Shanaka Jayasuriya

Shanaka has a diverse practice and accepts briefs in all areas of the law. He has a particular interest in commercial law and criminal law and has appeared both led and unled in various New South Wales and federal courts and tribunals.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Shanaka was a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in London and Henry Davis York in Sydney and a tipstaff in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (with Distinction) and Bachelor of Laws (with First Class Honours) from the University of Oxford.

Harrison Grace

Harrison practices primarily in the areas of commercial law, corporations law, equity, trusts, professional negligence, property, planning and environment law, and public law. A select list of cases in which he has appeared is attached to his CV, which may be downloaded below.

Before coming to the Bar in 2016, Harrison worked in international arbitration in Singapore for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (focusing primarily upon investor-state and treaty disputes), and in Paris for Allen & Overy (on large scale commercial claims).

Harrison was previously Tipstaff to the Honourable Justice R I Barrett of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. He was also a contributor to Robson’s Annotated Corporations Legislation.

Harrison holds a Juris Doctor (Dist) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons I) from the University of Sydney. He taught Civil and Criminal Procedure at Sydney Law School and worked there as a researcher. He studied on exchange at Sciences Po, Paris and speaks French.

Helena Mann

Helena was admitted to the Bar in 2014 after practising as a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills and acting as a Tipstaff and Associate to Justice Slattery in the NSW Supreme Court.

She practices mainly in complex commercial and general equity matters (with particular interest in trust and property disputes). She also utilises her extensive commercial experience to assist on complex commercial prosecutions and is part of the 7^th Floor’s White Collar Crime Team.

Helena is often able to draw on her legal education and experience in both civil and common law jurisdictions to find unique solutions for complex legal issues requiring a broader perspective.

She was born and raised in Poland where she graduated with a Masters of Law from the University of Warsaw and started her legal career. In 2009 she moved to Australia for love and completed a Bachelor of Law (1st Class Hons) at the University of Sydney. She is fluent in Polish and also knows German and Russian.

David Hughes

David appears in complex commercial and corporate disputes. He has acted in significant cases for major corporations in the following fields:
• resources and infrastructure
• telecommunications
• investor class actions
• competition
• construction
David is an author of ‘The Interpretation of Contracts in Australia’ and is often consulted on difficult or significant questions of contractual interpretation.
David also appears in the Federal Courts in judicial review applications.
David also has expertise in private international law, and he is a former legal officer for the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

David was recently included as ‘A leading senior junior counsel specialising in contract and construction disputes. He is extremely knowledgeable and easy to work with. ’
Legal 500 – Asia Pacific

Justin Hogan-Doran SC

Justin Hogan-Doran SC was appointed Senior Counsel in 2020 after 16 years at the NSW and Australian Bar.

Justin is regularly briefed by interstate and foreign attorneys on cross-border litigation in arbitration, infrastructure and transport disputes.

In 2020/2021, Justin has:

acted for international investors seeking to enforce over US$6 Billion in ICSID Awards against the Kingdom of Spain (Eiser Infrastructure Ltd v Kingdom of Spain [2020] FCA 157) and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright, Allen & Overy and King+Wood Mallesons;
been conducting Class Action litigation in the Supreme Court of NSW and the Federal Court of Australia in consumer and employment matters, instructed by Somerville Legal and Adero Law;
appeared in appeals to the Full Federal Court in arbitration (Kingdom of Spain v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.à.r.l. [2021] FCAFC 3) and bankruptcy (Endresz v Commonwealth [2021] FCAFC) matters, in the Court of Appeal of the ACT (Endresz v Commonwealth of Australia [2020] ACTCA 48) and in the High Court of Australia (Special Leave), instructed by the Norton Rose Fulbright and the Australian Government Solicitor.

He has been recognised in Doyle’s Guide as a leading or recommended counsel in three specialist practice areas – Transport (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), Construction (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) and Arbitration (2017, 2018, 2019). He has been recognised since 2009 in Best Lawyers^® in Australia in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Shipping & Maritime, and was named ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in Shipping and Maritime 2019’.

Justin also regularly appears in arbitrations in Australia and sits as an arbitrator in transport and construction disputes, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb).

He acts as a mediator on request in specialist and commercial disputes.

Justin was a Councillor and the Treasurer of the NSW Bar Association in 2015.

Prior to the Bar, Justin worked as a Banking & Finance Solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King + Wood Mallesons). He was also a Management Consultant in the Financial Practice area of the Boston Consulting Group in Sydney. His extensive experience in business and finance makes him one of the most commercially minded counsel at the Australian Bar.

Justin is a long-time lecturer at the University of Sydney Law School in Litigation, Equity, Private International Law and Transnational Commercial Litigation (at Humboldt University, Berlin). He was the 1998-2000 Menzies Scholar to Oxford University (BCL/MPhil), where he won the John Morris Prize for Private International Law. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Law from the University of Sydney. In 1996, he was an associate to His Excellency Sir Ninian Stephen at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

Justin is a former officer in the Australian Army. He commenced his military career as a Commando with the 1^st Commando Regiment, and was later a Captain in the Australian Army Legal Corps, with postings to the Military Law Centre and HQ Special Operations.